Tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and fossil fuels kill 2.7 million people a year in Europe, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has called on governments to impose tougher regulation of health-harming products.

In a groundbreaking report, the WHO said powerful industries were driving ill-health and premature death by using “misleading” marketing and interfering in governments’ efforts to prevent killer diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

The new report calculates that tobacco, fossil fuels, UPFs and alcohol are responsible for more than 7,400 deaths every day across Europe’s 53 states. Overall the four industries cause an estimated 2.7 million deaths annually in Europe, about a quarter (24.5%) of all mortality.

The UN health agency’s findings amount to an unprecedented attack on the huge damage major corporations and their products are inflicting on human health. The report describes how “big industry” uses overt and covert methods to boost their profits by delaying and derailing policies to improve population health.